


Firework

by snakebit1995



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-01-05 12:02:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18365618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snakebit1995/pseuds/snakebit1995
Summary: You've seen this, fifth vault hunter, OC story, explosives.Contains: OC





	1. Chapter 1

_Felt like doing something Borderlands related rummaging around in my head for a while since BL3 just got announced and I'm all salty about the Epic Games crap (Not buying it there) anyway on to the story_

* * *

**NO POV**

An unsteady bus glided across the sands of the desert, kicking up dust in its wake. Inside were six people, one of whom was the driver a portly bearded man.

In the seats though were five passengers. The first was a black man named Roland in a tattered military uniform and armor, of the group he seemed the least inclined to say anything.

Not far from him was a red headed woman with tattoos named Lilith, a Siren a rare supernaturally powered woman. She had a thin body almost lanky body and was wearing tight pants and

Close by was a man named Mordecai, he was the shortest of the men but also the lankiest and thinnest. He had tan skin was wearing leather, complete with a facemask. There was also a strange bird on his shoulder.

Near the back was the largest of the men, Brick. He was brimming with size and muscles and looked like he could break a fence post like a small twig, he was wearing a fest and had hard metal plates attached to his fist.

The last was a man of average height a somewhat thicker build, his face was a little grey and withered despite the fact he wasn't much older than the others, he was wearing a blue button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a cigarette pack tucked on the right arm. His shirt and jeans were both sooty and dusty, he had a goatee beard and thin black hair that also had singe marks and split ends.

"Heh." He pulled out a lighter and placed a cigarette in his mouth "We there yet?"

"Asking again won't make it go faster Forman." Lilith said.

"The sooner we get there the sooner we can start looking and find the vault." He said.

"We find the vault and get rich." Mordecai said.

"See Mordy has the idea." Forman laughed.

"Hmm." Brick and Roland both grunted.

"Talkative and focused as always." Lilith rolled her eyes.

"I just don't see any reason to get worked up." Roland said "If we find it, we find it, getting their sooner won't really change that."

"Don't be alarmed." The group each heard the voice of a young woman in their head "I'm here to help you, guide you to the vault, get off the bus at the next stop and look for the happy little robot…I'll contact you again soon."

The voice slowly faded and everyone looked around.

"So that wasn't just me." Forman said.

"No…No it wasn't." Lilith said pulling the rope to signal for the next stop.

"You're seriously listening to that thing?" Roland asked.

"You got a better idea?" she shot him a look.

"No…" he said.

"Fyrestone Depot." The Bus pulled over "if you wanna get off now's your chance."

The five stepped off and as soon as the bus pulled away, they saw a small orange box shaped robot.

"I found the happy robot." Forman said lighting the cigarette he put in his mouth earlier "And it's a Claptrap."

"Hello Travelers!" it waved.

"What a great start." Mordecai said rolling his eyes.

"Come this way please." The robot pointed for them to follow.

* * *

**Forman's POV**

"Suppose we should follow it?" I asked.

"Well that's what that…Guardian Angel said to do." Lilith shrugged.

"No one else has a better idea might as well do it." Roland nodded taking out his assault rifle "Just in case."

Everyone else equipped up as well, Lilith with an SMG, Brick a Shotgun and Mordecai a sniper rifle.

"Hmm." I pulled out a revolver "Alright then, first step to riches."

None of us had known each other when we arrived on this hell planet, but when word spread about a Vault and people looking for it, we all ended up coming out to this desert dump together.

We followed the Claptrap over to a gate where it started pressing on buttons.

"You hear that?" Mordecai asked.

I looked over at a ridge and started hearing a loud wurring noise.

"Wait…is that…" Claptrap paused "Oh no…"

"What do you mean 'Oh no'?" Brick growled.

"Not again! RUNN!" The robot drove itself off and into a little hidey hole.

As the robot disappeared from view a convoy of buggies and trucks hit a ramp and zoomed overhead.

"That was close." Lilith said.

"Ehh they seemed to be out for a joy ride." I said taking a drag "You gonna open this door?"

"Oh right!" the robot rolled back out "Those bandits really have it out for us Claptraps. Being target Practice is not part of our programming."

"Guess we'll have trouble up ahead." I sighed.

"Annnnd Open!" Claptrap made the gate rise and drove through.

We all moved in quickly and got behind some rubble.

"Let's make this quick." Roland said.

"Sneaky?" Lilith asked.

"RAAAH!" Brick ran in and fired a shotgun blast at a gun, blowing him back.

"That's a no." I stood up and aimed, pulling the trigger and then resetting the hammer with my thumb.

A first fight quickly broke out between us and the bandits, bullets flying all over the damn place.

"HMM!" I help my gun with two hands to pull down the recoil as I drilled another bandit in the chest "This is taking too long."

"Right!" Roland reached down and threw out a turret, a small Scorpio turret that provided another flank and laid into the bandits.

At the same time Mordecai sent out his bird and had it distract the bandits with divebombs while the turret laid more fire. We moved into town and kept pushing the bandits back with gunfire.

"Reloading!" Roland yelled.

"Got it." I leaned around a post and popped a guy "Me too!"

I dumped out the remaining casings and took out a cylinder to reload.

"HAAA!" Lilith suddenly appeared between two bandits in a burst of energy knocking them back.

"Alright let's get this over with then." I said reaching back and grabbing a Frisbee like device that landed between the bandits as I pressed the trigger on the side of my lighter **"Remote Eruption!"**

The trigger beeped and the disc started shooting off explosive fireworks, sparklers shooting off and popping into small explosions and bursts of light that blew bandits away.

"That looks like all of them." I got up and spit my butt out.

"I knew you were the right choice." The voice said.

"Her again." I mumbled.

"Attention Citizen of Fyrestone!" Claptrap rolled up to a door "There is no cause for alarm, the visitors have resolved the problem."

"And here I was thinking I was a goner." A man's voice came of the communicator "Damn bandits don't know when to leave people alone I had to lock the place up, hang on I'll let you in."

The shutter on a building opened and we saw inside where there was a middle-aged man with surgical scrubs and a mask on, he seemed old and had grey in his hair and everything.

"Thanks for that." He said "Name's Zed, I don't do much cutting into folks since I lost my license so now, I just run the med vendors."

"Seems like you've got a bit of a bandit problem." Lilith laughed.

"You could say that, but pretty much everyone on Pandora does." The doctor explained "Nine-toes and his boys have been running all over the place causing a mess lately."

"We can take care of it on the way." Roland said.

"Really?" Zed scoffed "That'd be mighty helpful, a friend of mine TK Baha has a farm not far from here working on some stuff and might be able to help."

We all agreed to look into it on our way, the best way to hopefully find out about the vault was to get in good with the locals.

"Might as well get a move on." I said stepping outside and lighting up again.

"You don't waste any time." Lilith gave me a look.

"What I wasn't gonna light up in front of the doctor." I said "I got enough talks about the dangers when I was a kid, hasn't killed me yet."

She rolled her eyes so hard I thought she might pop a blood vessel. We didn't say much more on it but kept moving out until we found a lone little shack not too far from the main town, there was one man there with on leg sitting in a chair and as soon as we got close, he pulled out a shotgun and aimed right at us.

"Whoa!" everyone yelled.

"One more step and it'll be your last…HAHA You should have seen the looks on your faces." He laughed.

"So, should you." I looked at the dark tint on his goggles before leaning over to Brick "This guy's blind."

We spoke with the old man and he said he had set up some explosives that could get us into the gully where this Nine-Toes guy was hiding out so we set off without much trouble.

"Not a bad set up." I looked at the fuse and detonator.

"A blind guy made it." Mordecai noted.

"Yeah but he made it good." I inspected it closer "Looks like it'll work just fine."

Everyone gave me a look.

"Look I get not trusting the blind guy but I know my explosives." I blew out smoke "I once cobbled together an old car, I trashed vending machine and some old gun parts and made a rocket that flew five mils to obliterate a general store that overcharged me."

I got another look.

"Okay I embellished a little so what." I rolled my eyes "I've been making fireworks and explosives since I was a teenager trust me, I know what I'm doing and this thing will work."

I turned around and pressed the plunger down and sure enough the spark triggered and blew the barricade open.

"See nothing to be afraid of." I laughed and coughed "Let move."

We headed inside and moved through the canyon quickly dispatching bandits and finding their leader who was not happy to see us and quickly started an assault with two of his pet skags.

"HMM!" I stood up and fired two shots "Back off you over grown shit eater."

I rolled to the side as one of the Skags jumped at me.

"Heh!" I pulled a grenade off my belt and strapped it too the creature and threw it back to detonate, spraying a mess around.

"HAAA!" Lilith burst out of the other world and blew Nine-toes into one of his own decorative spikes.

"Well that takes care of that." I said as Brick finally stopped punching the other skag and we got back outside as the sky darkened "Well one day down, hopefully not many left."

* * *

**AN**

**Thank you for reading. Feedback is appreciated. Feel free to message me any questions or concerns.**

**Till Next Time!**

 


	2. Vault Key

**Forman's POV**

* * *

With Nine-toes out of the picture we could direct our efforts to getting more information about the vault. The first thing we did was repair the local Catch-A-Ride so we could get around a little easier.

"Killings a bunch of bandits is getting us nowhere." Mordecai said.

"Well you got a better idea?" I said.

"We go higher." Brick said.

"You mean like take out the boss?" Lilith asked.

"Hmm." He nodded.

"Well that'd be Sledge." Zed chimed in from across the street "Most of the other locals beat feet out of here when you guys got the Catch-A-Rise working, don't know how many would have made it past him though, there's a young guy at the crossroads not far from here named Shep, he might be able to get you into the mines Sledge is at."

"Seems like we at least have an idea where to go." I said.

"Then let's get going." Roland said without much more word.

We hopped into the runners we had, Lilith and Roland shared with her driving while the rest of us were relegated to one, me driving with Mordecai on the turret and Brick riding on the back.

"You know you're really throwing off the weight distribution on this thing." I told Brick.

"You wanna ride on the back?" he asked.

"Nah I'm good." I laughed taking a turn.

We stopped and found a young man named Shep who had an axe to grind with a bandit named Sledge and with some persuasion he let us take the key to the mines.

"Sledge is dangerous." He warned "I heard he's been digging for something too, just stay away from him, ever since he found that doodad, he's been on a warpath looking for more artifacts."

"We can handle it." Roland told him.

We hopped back in and drove off to the gate to the mines.

"Well this is easier than expected." I said as the gate rose up.

"Way to jinx it." Lilith laughed as we headed through "If this sledge guy has an artifact it could be related to the Vault."

"See looking into this paid off." I smiled.

We soon arrived at a mining operation teaming with bandits who all wanted us dead. So, we started moving through and clearing them out, gunfire ringing out and the smell of gunpowder drifting into the air.

"HMPH!" I ducked back behind a box as I threw my firework spinner out and let it start shooting off explosions "Up on that roof, Rocket Launcher!"

"I got it." Mordecai pulled out a sniper rifle and blew the bandit's head off before he could react.

"I'll take this." I said grabbing the launcher as it rolled off the roof "Good quality so…Fire!"

I pulled the trigger and shot off a rocket that blasted into the ground in a fiery blast.

"I could get use to this thing." I laughed moving it to my back.

"Why are there always so many?" Lilith asked shooting over a barricade without looking.

"This planet's full of old convicts from Dahl mining." Roland said "So when they pulled out and left them all behind, they went back to old habits."

"How kind of them." I said firing two shots with my pistol to take out a psycho on Brick's back "Take over an alien planet and turn tail and run when it doesn't go your way."

We pushed up more and got to the main building and kicked down the door to get inside. We moved through the mill and found the main room where Sledge was.

He was a big guy covered in a metal helmet and armor plates, in one hand he had a shotgun and the other a massive cobbled together sledge hammer.

"Sledge no like you, Sledge kill you now!" he yelled shooting at us.

"Nice to know we're making friends." Lilith laughed.

"Yeah we're the life of the party." Mordecai smirked leaning over the railing.

The three of us let off a blast of shots, most of which bounced off either his shield or his armor.

"That's gonna be a problem!" I yelled.

"RAAH!" Brick just ran in and grabbed Sledge's hammer before he could slam it down again and knocked him back.

Roland deployed his turret and we tried to get more shots in but nothing was making a dent.

"RAAH!" I let off a rocket shot but not even that was making enough of a difference.

"He can't hold up forever keep going." Roland said.

"Easier said than done I'm running out of bullets." I said throwing a grenade and my disc, setting off a chain of explosions.

"HMPH!" Mordecai aimed up and shot a chain that knocked an engine of some kind off the upper level, slamming it into the bandit.

"There went the shield!" Lilith yelled "Brick!"

"RAAAH!" the large man started punching him with a flurry of blows.

"There!" we all laid into his open chest with bullets, riddling him till he fell.

"I think we got him." Lilith panted.

"That was…rough." I immediately light a smoke and tossing Sledge's shotgun to Brick.

We took what we needed in terms of ammo, cash and weapons before we found a big trunk stuffed with cash.

"Looks important." Mordecai opened it.

Inside was a pile of money, and one strange triangle shaped purple tinted rock.

"I ain't ever seen anything like that." I said.

"…yeah…" Lilith rubbed her head.

"You alright?" Roland asked.

"Thanks for the concern, just a headache from all the gunshot's ringing out." She said picking it up "We should probably get back to Fyrestone and regroup, figure out what this thing is."

"The Vault is real." The voice suddenly appeared in the fog of our minds "What you have there is the key…or part of it, I knew you were the right choice."

"Her again, I wonder who she is." I tapped my cigarette out and placed it back in my mouth.

We started heading back, loading into the runners and driving off, we barely got back on the road before our Echos squeaked.

"This is Commandant Steele of the Atlas Corporation Crimson Lance." A gruff woman's voice said "I have been informed of your arrival in search of the vault and how within minutes you have started killing locals and causing a disturbance."

"That's what we're doing." I said making a turn.

"This planet is under the authority of the Atlas Corporation and any Eridian artifacts found here is Atlas property and any possession of such property carries a stiff penalty. Turn yourself in at once to the nearest Lance outpost and surrender any information or artifacts you have in possession; this is your only warning."

"Well she seems just peachy." I said.

* * *

**LATER**

We got back to Fyrestone and decided to rest for a bit and figure out our next move.

"We really wanna trust some magic voice?" Roland asked.

"You have any better ideas?" Lilith said.

"No but…I think we need to be careful." He said.

"Hmm." I blew out smoke why I made a few adjustments on the Rocket Launcher I found.

"Zed said something about helping us get in touch with a woman who might know more about the Vault." Roland said "I'll go ask."

He left while I kept working.

"Should you be smoking around explosives?" Lilith asked

"I know how to be careful." I said looking at some ammo I got from the machine "I've only blown myself up a few times."

She took a step back "A few?"

"You know how to handle your fancy magic powers I know how to handle things that explode." I said "I'm just messing with the barrel not the ammo so there's no live powder…well not enough to be concerned about. I've had my share of run ins with getting maimed so I know when I can push my limits."

I spit out my butt.

"You work with this stuff for long?" she asked.

"Since I was a kid." I put it down "I appreciate the small talk but…nah."

"Huh, what you don't want friends?" she asked.

"That's not what I meant." I laughed "Never mind, mixed signals happen."

"Mixed…you thought?!" she laughed "NO!"

"I know." I smirked "Because I saw the way you looked at him."

I gestured to Roland.

"It's getting late might as well get some rest yeah, probably got a long drive tomorrow.

* * *

**AN**

**Thank you for reading. Feedback is appreciated. Feel free to message me any questions or concerns.**

**Till Next Time!**

 


	3. New Haven

**Foreman's POV**

* * *

After leaving Fyrestone and dealing with some road running bandits in cars we finally arrived in a place called New Haven, a rusted out junk town in the middle of a junk heap of twisted metal and trash.

"Zed said to meet with a woman named Helena Pierce." I grabbing a smoke off my sleeve "Damn last one."

"A nice little town, no bandits I wouldn't mind staying here for a bit." Lilith laughed.

"Hmm." I took a puff "I wouldn't call it nice myself."

"It's better than that last little place was, at least there's more than two people here." Mordecai said.

"Well hey there, you sure sound familiar have I met you before?" a man asked.

Looking over near the gat to town was a man behind a table covered in tools and grease, similar to himself in a way.

"I don't think so." I said.

"Ah well, my name's Scooter I run the Catch-A-Rides." he said.

"Oh we helped you fix that one outside of Fyrestone." I shook his hand.

"See I knew I knew you." He laughed "You sure did a good job, anytime you need anything just ask."

"Well we do need something actually." Roland said "We're looking for a woman named Pierce."

"Oh yeah Helena, she's just through there." Scooter pointed at a building.

We followed his directions and went into a small building and found a rather…torn up woman with a nasty facial scar, glass eye and robotic arm.

"Yikes-GAH" I groaned when Lilith elbowed me.

"I heard you might be coming." She said turning to face us but not looking happy "You've been making quite a fuss you know, drawing attention from unwanted figures."

"Popular is popular." Mordecai said.

"We're just looking for the vault." I said.

"I don't care, you shouldn't waste time with such childish dreaming." She glared a bit…I think it was hard to tell with her bad eye.

"Look you gonna help us or not?" I asked.

"I'm trying to keep this town from self destructing I don't have time to help people chasing fairy tales." She said "You can stay in town, but pull your own weight if you do."

We left defeated and without lead again.

"Well that was a waste." I sighed sitting on a barrel.

"What now?" Lilith asked.

"I don't know, wait and maybe get her to like us so she'll help?" Roland said.

"That could work, and then we'll find the Vault in another oh, five years or so." Mordecai said.

"Well that ain't an option." I said "We gotta figure something else out."

We all split up to do some work and such.

"Come on." I kicked a machine to get it to dispense the cigarette packs I just paid for, the metal thunking as the box fell out "There we go."

I walked back out and wandered around town for a bit looking for something to do.

"That Feeder is off." I said watching Scooter working on one of his cars "It won't load the rockets right, either it'll jam up or detonate in the chamber. Mind if I take a look?"

"Well I don't normally let anyone mess with my rides ever since my sister went and messed up that one runner." He said.

"I won't touch the car just the turret." I said climbing up.

I leaned over and moved some parts around.

"Can I borrow that screwdriver." I said.

Scooter handed the tool over and I removed a panel to see inside.

"There it is." I reached in and moved it over "There should run smoother now."

* * *

**LATER**

"Ugh a bed." Lilith laid down "We might be stuck here but at least we can relax."

"Can't complain about that." I yawned.

We were all relaxing in a little hovel we decided to stay in when the echo spurted to life with a public message.

"Listen up mud people." A woman said "This is Doctor Tannis, skipping the details that would make some of you drool in confusion I have concluded that the Vault is real."

At that we all leaned closer.

"In addition to that fact the Vault can likely only be opened once every two centuries." She explained "And that time will be soon."

"Wait it can't always be opened?" Roland said.

"If this thing really is a key, we need to find the other pieces." Mordecai said "And we need to hurry."

"That lady sounds like she knows what she's talking about." Brick nodded.

"Our magic friend hasn't said anything in a while." I scratched my head "But this Doctor lady seems like the only lead we've got; we should try and get in touch with her."

* * *

**LATER**

Not wasting time, the next morning, we headed out, I don't think Helena was happy we were chasing after the Vault, I'm pretty sure she wanted up to stick around and do her menial labor, but we pressured her for Tannis location and she gave us coordinates for a dig site nearby.

"This is where she's supposed to be." I looked around the dig site.

It was layered and rocky, with large slabs of bizarrely patterned rocks, statues and arches.

"Creepy." Mordecai said.

"I don't know it's not that bad." Lilith said "It has…charm."

"You sure this woman is here?" Roland asked shooting a Spiderant "This place is infested."

"We better hope she's not dead then." I shrugged "Else we'll be at another dead end."

There was a little shack on a ridge nearby so we made a target for it and found a woman in side, not to old with short black hair and clothes meant for getting hands dirty, her room was cluttered with maps and books, torn up like a wind had ripped through.

"What are you doing here and what do you want?" She said.

"Are you Dr. Tannis?" Lilith asked "The one looking for the Vault."

"That's what they call me, that or crazy loon." She said before turning to a chair "Although he keeps calling me a bitch!"

"Crazy, Crazy, Crazy." I hummed lighting up.

"Don't blow such fumes in my office." She shoved me "You'll disturb everything."

"Clearly." I hummed.

"Now what do you want?" she asked.

"We were wondering if you knew what this was?" Lilith handed her the artifact we found "We heard it's a piece of a key to the Vault?"

"Incredible!" she picked it up "Indeed you simpletons have managed to find one, give it to me."

"Whoa now, finder keepers." Mordecai said.

"Look you want to find the Vault right, leave the key with me so I can do some research and we can find the Vault together, I used to have another piece you know."

"Used to?" Brick asked.

"Yes I turned it over to the one they call Crazy Earl along with some of my underwear." she said "I assume he still has it, go get it we'll need it and the other pieces to open the Vault at the right time."

She pushed us out and slammed the door.

"She's crazy." Roland said.

"Are we sure it's a good idea to let her watch the key?" Lilith asked "She might break it."

"She's an odd one." I commented "Crazy for sure, but hey some people like that."

"Oh like you." Mordecai smirked.

"Haha, she's not ugly, but she's a little loony." I said.

"You know what they say about crazy girls." He commented.

"That's enough of that." Lilith got back in her car "Let's find this scrapyard and the other piece."

* * *

**AN**

**Thank you for reading. Feedback is appreciated. Feel free to message me any questions or concerns.**

**Till Next Time!**

 


	4. The Second Piece

**Forman's POV**

After visiting the scrapyard to do a bunch of menial tasks we learned this crazy old man didn't even have the key anymore, it'd been stolen by a bandit named Krom.

"Can we hurry this up?!" I yelled "I'm taking turret fire here!"

"We're working on it!" Mordecai yelled from the back "Hurry up Brick!"

"RAAAH!" the man was punching his way through a horde of bandits while we provided cover fire.

"At least he's a natural at smashing." Lilith said throwing a grenade.

"Natural as destroying stuff." Roland said.

"So long as he gets the vault key fragment, I don't care what he does." I yelled over the turret fire before lifting up and firing a rocket off.

The smoke trail plumed behind the rocket as it slammed into the turret Krom was firing from knocking him back.

"Move up!" I yelled.

We scrambled forward while we had a reprieve from the fire and threw a few more bandits into the canyons as we went before getting in close.

"Eat my fist!" Brick delivered a few hard jabs into Krom's face, the bandit falling over in a lump.

"Well I say that'll do it." I walked up and started fiddling with a chest "This looks important."

I grunted and got the thing open, a stack of cash and a shiny purple stone triangle sitting in there with it.

"That makes two." I picked up the artifact "Let's get this thing to Tannis."

* * *

**LATER**

When we got to Tannis dig site no one wanted to deal with her.

"Fine I'll go in." I said holding the piece.

I walked up and pushed the door open.

"We found the second part." I told her blowing smoke out the left side of my mouth and using the right to hold my cigarette in place.

"Wonderful give it here now." She grabbed it "And put that blasted thing out I can already feel myself losing braincells."

"You know for a planet of crazy murders and psychos everyone sure has a bone to pick with a guy for smoking." I sighed "Speaking of what are you doing out here all alone?"

"My research is best done in peace, far from the idiots of New Haven." She said.

"Yeah but it can't be safe flying solo out here." I looked at her "A lady like yourself seems like easy pickings for bandits."

"I can manage without issue I assure you." She told me flatly "Now unless you have something important to here get out and go back to drinking mud water or whatever it is you simpletons do."

"Ouch that was rude, not everyone on this planet is stupid you know." I told her.

"Says the one covered in explosive residue." She hummed "I assure you I don't need any protection or assistance from you. Now leave I will contact you when I find the location or the next piece for retrieval."

"Alright then, see you again soon." I stepped out.

"Try not to die, it will make finding the vault most difficult." She said.

I stepped outside and sighed.

"So, how'd it go?" Lilith asked.

"She's a handful." I commented "She'll contact us with the location of the third piece soon."

* * *

**LATER**

We got back to New Haven and everyone decided to relax and catch their breath for a bit while we waited for the next location from Tannis.

"Hmm." I was sitting up on one of the roof areas leaning over a railing looking at the town.

New Haven really was a mess, a dump of a town in a dump of a place, still no one seemed all that upset about being here, they seemed happier to have a community and some sense of normalcy compared to the rest of Pandora. There were still bandits but in here it was like a little pocket of civilization…mostly.

Bounty hunters would pass through from time to time claiming dangerous bandits' heads and more.

"Hmm, that's a bounty hunter?" I looked down from the roof at a woman collecting a price on someone from Helena.

She was tall and slender with short black hair cut into a bob, her skin was a natural tan and her body was covered in what I would best describe as punk cowboy.

"I know a badass when I see one." I hummed blowing out smoke "Best to steer clear of her before she turns me over to Atlas for whatever they probably want to keep us off the vault."

"Hmm." The woman must have sensed my looking, she peered up at the roof with a smirk.

I gave her a joking wave and turned to leave, making a not to stay away from a woman like that.

"Awfully quick to run and hide."

"Christ!" I yelped seeing her cutting my way down off.

" _She moves quick."_

"Now why would someone go running off after simply lookin my way?" she asked.

"People pass each other on the street all the time, they don't stop to talk to every person." I told her dropping and stepping out my cigarette "Sorry I didn't know you were looking to strike up a conversation."

"I wasn't." she walked to the side "Just wanted to make sure I wasn't being stalked."

"That a problem you have a lot?" I asked.

"Most men know enough not to try anything with me." She said making a point to emphasis the pistol on her waist.

"I'll keep that in mind if I ever see you again." I said "Miss?"

"Nisha." She commented as I walked away.

"Nice name." I saluted and wandered off.

* * *

**AN**

**Thank you for reading. Feedback is appreciated. Feel free to message me any questions or concerns.**

**Till Next Time!**

 


	5. The Thrid Piece

**Foreman's POV**

* * *

"This place reeks worse than New Haven." I groaned as we arrived at the Trash Coast looking for the next key piece.

"I'm guessing it's called the Trash Coast for a reason." Mordecai coughed "Lets hurry up and find this piece and get out of here."

"REEE!" Bloodwing suddenly took off to scout from the air.

"Well at least for once we're not at a place crawling with bandits." I said "Instead it's crawling with Raak."

Raak, disgustingly annoying oversized bat like creatures that swoop down on you in swarms, thankfully they shriek like mad and you can defend yourself.

"You must prepare yourself." The Guardian Angel spoke "The next challenge might seem insurmountable but you can conquer it. You've come far and this last challenge will be your greatest."

"Well that was ominous." I sighed "Then again when isn't Angel like that."

Bloodwing soon started circling over an area so we headed that way.

"A clearing." Lilith walked out "That's sweet but I don't see it."

"Why would there be a clearing in the middle of all this junk?" Roland wondered.

"Maybe the key's buried?" Brick suggested.

"This is a lot of places to dig." I groaned "Hmm?"

"What?" Lilith asked.

"Did you just…feel the ground move?" I asked.

"I don't know maybe?" she said.

"Wait a sec." I held my hand up "Flat space…tremors…those flying urchins…"

"What?" Brick asked.

"Oh fuck." I looked to the side "Run now!"

I backed up as a small hill nearby started shifting bit by bit, rising from the earth.

"It's a fricken Raak Hive!" I yelled.

A massive beast bigger than a building slowly stood up from underground, the hideous butt ugly piece of crab flapping its gross looking vertical lips.

"BRRAAAAAAA!" it roared as Raak flew out of the holes in it's back.

"I think I see why the Angel said this would be a challenge." Mordecai said.

"The Key piece is probably passed here!" I yelled.

"How the hell are we supposed to get passed that?" Lilith yelled.

"Shot it…a lot." Roland said throwing down his turret and starting to lay down fire "If it bleeds we can kill it!"

We all split up as the monster started stomping around and trying to crush us.

"We just happen to show up when this thing woke up from a nap?" Mordecai was trying to get a shot in at one of the beasts four eyes "Don't they sleep for like years at a time?"

"Sorry haven't taken a biology class in a while!" I said shooting a few Raak swarming at Brick.

"It's not slowing down!" Lilith yelled laying into it with her machine gun "Someone do something!"

"Go big or go home I guess." I fell back from the fight "Cover me!"

I got out of range and started looking at the rocket launcher I had.

"Move this…where's that panel?" I turned it over "Come on…"

"Could you hurry it up?!" Lilith yelled.

"I'm going as fast as I can?" I moved some wiring to the side "Found it."

I pulled a few wires out and yanked a bulb out.

"Alright!" I ran back "GET DOWN!"

I held the launcher on my shoulder and aimed up as the beast got close, the vent on the side gushed heat as I pulled the trigger and blasted it in the side from a nearby ledge, blowing a massive hole in it, spattering carnage around.

"What the hell was that?!" Brick yelled as the beast keeled over.

"I overheated the cooling vent to supercharge the rocket and…ah what the hell's the point none of you understand this shit anyway." I shook my arm to get blood off "The fricken Launcher's fried and I'm covered in monster guts, the rest of you can find that stupid Key piece."

"Thanks for saving our lives." Lilith said.

"Yeah, yeah…I need a smoke."

* * *

**LATER**

"Here." I walked into the dig site "Another piece of the friggen key, this better be worth it in the end you know, this is a stupid amount of work."

"Ah yes of course it will." She took it "Hmm?"

"What they hell are you doing?" I asked as she leaned in and sniffed me.

"For once you don't reek of tobacco and tar." She commented.

"I'm covered in Raak Hive guts." I grumbled "Because I was trying to get the key piece, why wouldn't you warn us that thing was there."

"I was unaware of such, as you know I don't go out much yet alone deal with such manner of disgusting creatures." She said.

"Yeah, I can tell." I said "You're paler than the moon you need some sun."

"My melanin levels are fine." She huffed.

"Whatever you say, where's the next piece?" I asked.

"With a man named Baron Flynt, but to get to him you'll need a Claptrap with authorization for the Salt Flats, but that unit was captured in Old Haven." She said "A location full of Crimson Lance."

"Great…another gun fight." I sighed.

* * *

**LATER**

After gunning our way through Old Haven and rescuing one of those troublesome robots we went back to New Haven to restock before our next attack.

"This ought to get you through the tougher ballistic armor on those Lance." Marcus, the local gun shop owner and the guy who drove the bus we came in on, said.

"Hmm, I'm not usually a Vladof guy myself." I said "Got anything by Torgue?"

"I see you are a man who knows his quality." He pulled out a long white chambered launcher with a bulbous red end.

"Hell yeah see that's what I'm talking about." I looked at it "high quality ignition primer, flawless barrel shape…yeah this is the one I'll take it."

I paid up and headed out rekitted for the coming assault on Baron Flynt's digging machine. Tannis insisted this was the final piece, so once we had that we could open the Vault, I wondered what was inside, mountains of gold, weapons to set up a whole city to defend itself, something else just as bizarre or strange?

"I wonder what that crazy doctor will do once she gets to look inside?" I hummed "Hopefully when we open it up she'll be able to focus on something else, maybe start getting out of her little camp and **interacting** with the rest of the world again?"

* * *

**AN**

**Thank you for reading. Feedback is appreciated. Feel free to message me any questions or concerns.**

**Till Next Time!**

 


	6. The "Final" Piece

**Foreman's POV**

* * *

"Keep the wheels on the ground would ya!" Mordecai yelled.

"I'm trying, you wanna drive?!" I yelled taking a sharp turn.

We had made it to the Salt flats and were working on trying to get ourselves up into Baron Flynt's digger machine, Thor. The current problem was as soon as we arrived a patrol of bandits in Light Runners started chasing us down. Lilith and I split the cars up to try and get them going in different directions.

The heavy pumping of the machine gun was ringing in my ears as I pulled a hard slide around a curve so that the back wheels would knock the gate down and we could get inside.

"Let's go!" I jumped out of the driver's seat and quickly unholstered my pistol to get a few shots off.

"Nice timing!" Lilith pulled up and she and Roland jumped out while Brick started shooting at people up close and Mordecai stayed on the turret.

The five of us started laying siege to the lower half of the digger, trying to find an elevator up.

"Grenade out!" I threw a MIRV that detonated in a large cluster explosion "That was a big one!"

We quickly found an elevator and pulled the switch to go to the top level.

"We've come this far let's get the last piece and be done with it." Roland said.

"Then we take the key and find the Vault." Brick laughed.

"Yep." I lit up before we reached the top "Hmm."

"What?" Lilith asked.

"Well does anyone actually know where the Vault is?" I asked "Besides Tannis I guess but…the key why would there be four pieces?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well the other three all looked like wedges for a triangle so how can there be a fourth." I wondered.

"Maybe it holds them together?" Mordecai said.

"Who cares about geometry lets punch stuff and get the key." Brick grunted.

"Fair enough." I shrugged reloading.

The elevator came to a stop and the doors rose up as we walked out.

"I'm guessing that's him." I looked up at the man sitting under the big neon arrow.

A firefight quickly broke out between us and Flynt's men. Bullets and explosions flying and going off without hesitation, the digger groaning a bit as metal dented and dinged.

"That guy's got a sword where his hand should be!" Lilith yelled teleporting into existence near us.

"Jeez this place is a mess!" I yelled throwing out my explosion machine and letting it go off, knocking the largest two men back.

"HMPH!" Roland was aiming down his sights and dinging some shields off.

"Got it!" I leaned out and followed his bullets to get my shots in as well.

"RAAH!" Brick took a slash from the sword off his knuckle dusters and then headbutted the guy and threw a few good blows into his gut while.

"BANG!"

A loud shot rang out as Mordecai blasted Baron Flynt from his position back in the elevator. With the leader gone most of the bandits scattered and we moved up to grab out loot.

"You alright there big guy, you took a few cuts." I looked at the blood on his arm.

"Nothing I haven't lived through before." He said as I patched him up.

"You know how to do medical work to?" Lilith laughed.

"I know how to put on a bandage." I stomped out my butt "You get caught in enough explosive mishaps and you learn to triage."

I looked through the bandit's stuff, finding mostly crap weapons and nasty homemade cigarettes.

"I don't see any fancy looking stuff." Lilith said "Nothing like any of the other pieces."

"There's nothing here." Mordecai said.

"We're going back to Tannis, either Flynt moved the piece or it was never here." I sighed gritting my teeth "She better not have taken the key."

We hopped back in the elevator and headed downstairs and as soon as the door opened we saw a troop of Crimson Lance storming the compound.

"Shit." We quickly ducked behind cover.

"Lance?" Roland said.

"What the hell's going on?" Mordecai growled.

"I can't get in touch with anyone on the Echo." I said "The whole network is down."

"Listen up Criminals." A voice came through scrambled.

"It's that lady from before." Brick said.

"Steele." I nodded.

"There is no fourth key piece." She said Tannis has joined us and we are in possession of the completed key. She used you, and you've ignored my orders, leave this planet now and we won't pursue you, do yourself a favor and take it."

"I can't believe we were so stupid to just give up all the pieces without know how many we needed." Lilith groaned shooting at some of the lance.

"I'm going after them." I said shooting a rocket to knock over a barricade "I want answers from Tannis, and I earned that key!"

"There's no point in leaving after coming this far." Mordecai agreed.

"Then we're going to the base." Roland said "For answers and our rightful prize."

"You must hurry." The voice of the angle said "There's not much more time…the Lance are in for a surprise, Pandora is counting on you."

* * *

**AN**

**Thank you for reading. Feedback is appreciated. Feel free to message me any questions or concerns.**

**Just a short chapter before the big Borderlands 1 finale sequence.**

**Till Next Time!**

 


	7. The Vault

_Italics indicate thinking_

* * *

**Foreman's POV**

We wasted no time getting to the Crimson Lance depot nearby and laying siege to it, looking to get answers and our vault key. The enemy had far more efficient weaponry than we did, and greater numbers, but we had determination.

"HMPH!" I leaned around a corner and took a few shots from my revolver before throwing out my exploding disk to cover for Roland as he moved himself up to lay down a turret for more covering fire.

"You know if they had so many soldiers why not go find the key on their own!" Mordecai yelled "Why make us do all the work!"

"Talk about lazy!" Lilith warped back into existence in a fiery explosion.

We moved deeper into the base, systematically dispatching anything in our way and looking for clues to follow.

"Damn Roland you're sure into this." Brick said as the man reloaded.

"I'm sure you've got some previous employers you'd like to take out frustrations on." He said.

We all agreed, still we were here for Tannis and the vault key, so mowing down everything in sight was productive.

"Yes, hello angry people with guns!"

"There she is." I walked over.

Inside one of the cells in the depot was Tannis, looking mostly unharmed.

"You have a lot to answer for." I said.

"Let me punch her." Brick said cracking his knuckles.

"Please don't." she said "The world would become instantly dumber if you crushed my skull between those oversized meat claws."

"What was your problem, you sold us out and lost the vault key to that Steele lady." I said.

"No those were all her doing I most certainly did not betray you." She said.

"I don't believe you." I smiled.

"What does it even matter none of us will be opening any vaults in here without the key."

"She's useless." Lilith said.

"She has a point though arguing about this here does nothing, we need to catch up to Steele." I said.

"She better not open the Vault first I'll be pissed." Mordecai said as we left.

"We'll be back to deal with you later." I told Tannis.

* * *

**LATER**

After leaving Tannis we rebooted the Echo Network and got a track on Steele, quickly pushing through the Crimson Lance's dig site.

"They knew where the Vault was and still didn't bother getting the key themselves." Brick said slamming a guy's head into a rock "They really are lazy."

"We've established they're pretty lazy." I said reloading a rocket "Let's just get it over with."

We didn't have much farther to go, we climbed the last set of stairs in front of us and found Steele, a pale woman in a fur vest and pants standing near an altar with a troop f Crimson Lance near her.

"You failed to listen to Commandant Steele." She said looking back at us "I warned you many times, yet you persist, the contents of this vault are property of the Atlas corporation."

"I didn't know Atlas still thought they owned a whole planet that they do nothing to manage." I said.

"The Vault might belong to Atlas, but you belong to me." She glared as she held her hand out.

The three pieces of the Vault key were surrounded by a strange energy that combined to form them into a triangle cylinder shape. The key rose up and slid down into a slot on the alter, more energy radiating out.

The ground rumbled and pieces of the nearby rubble started levitating, constructing themselves into a large arch behind her.

"Ha the key works." She laughed a bit "Get the team ready it's time to claim what is ours-GAH!"

Before Steele could finish her sentence, a huge sharp tentacle shot out of the arch which was now gushing energy in a portal like manner. Gored by the tentacle she was thrown to the side as more shot out, slamming around her soldiers.

"What the hell is that?!" Lilith yelled.

A huge mass of Tentacles and eyes started trying to crawl out of the portal.

"I don't know but we should probably kill it!" Roland said.

"What do you mean probably we absolutely should!" I yelled.

"Do not give up, this creature is only immortal in its own realm." The Angel said "It can be killed if you know where to aim."

"Just shoot it!" Mordecai said ducking behind a pillar as tentacles flailed around.

"I like that idea." I said as the eye glowed and shot out a beam.

Everyone started laying into it as best they could, Roland laying down a turret to provide additional fire while Lilith slipped away with her invulnerability.

"HRAA!" Brick grabbed one of the tendrils as it tried to hit him, pulling exceptionally hard and tearing it off.

"Is it working?" I asked hurling a grenade over my shoulder as it exploded into ten smaller mini-grenades that burst on contact.

"RAAAAA!" the beast roared and flailed a little more.

"Sounds like we're getting somewhere." Lilith said.

We laid into that monster with a cacophony of explosions and bullets, sounds rocking and shaking the rubble as the beast tried pulling itself farther out of the portal.

"Hit it with everything you've got!" Roldan commanded.

"YAAAA!"

Everyone blasted it as hard as they could with rockets of machine gun fire, dark blood squirted out of various orifices of the beast, the eye spinning as the spiky maw roared, the portal snapping shut as the tentacles went limp.

"You did it, you opened the Vault." The Angel suddenly spoke "I'm sorry I didn't warn you about what was inside but it had to be this way for you to stop it, you've done well…That key won't open the Vault for another 200 years, but I'm sure your friend Tannis will pay you for it."

"Wait…that's it?!" Mordecai yelled "No treasure, no guns?!"

"No money!" I groaned.

"It was nothing but…ten ales and disappointment." Lilith sighed.

"I knew listening to that thing was a mistake." Roland said.

"Well…at least we got to kill something cool." Brick shrugged.

"Oh yeah thrilling." We all rolled our eyes.

* * *

**AN**

**Thank you for reading. Feedback is appreciated. Feel free to message me any questions or concerns.**

**Till Next Time.**

 


	8. Digger

_Italics indicate thinking_

* * *

**Foreman's POV**

"Haa…" I sighed a bit blowing out smoke "It's quiet, and boring."

Ever since we opened the vault a few months ago little of interest was going on, well except the veins of weird purple minerals bursting out of the ground and the Hyperion corporation trying to move in and kick us out. To them we're just bandits in their way, but to the locals we opened a vault and that's at least something worth recognition.

"Alright where was I." I snuffed it out and picked up a wire "This goes here…then you plug that in over this way…"

I threw the bundle behind me and stepped back.

"Fire in the hole!" I yelled stepping on a plunger.

The bundle of rocks exploded outward and dust scattered the air.

"Still making a mess of this place huh?" Lilith said.

"What are you doing around here." I asked.

"Came to chat, that so wrong?" she asked.

"Never said it was." I smiled "I can make time from digging in the dirt for a friend."

"Sure, you don't wanna come back to New Haven?" she asked.

"I still come by." I said tapping out my cigarette "But come on…"

I looked over at the shack "If I leave her alone out here, she'll get in over her head with all that research and besides blowing stuff up is what I do, digging for that Eridium or whatever puts that to better use than hurling grenades at bandits."

After we opened the Vault we took the Key back to Tannis and with the Eridium popping up her research on the Vaults was more important than ever, but she still refused to go to New Haven so someone needed to make sure her and her camp didn't get attacked by all the various crazies and critters out here.

"I think you just like spending time with her." Lilith smiled.

"Well…I won't complain." I laughed a bit blowing out a bit of smoke "There's a charm to her crazy you know. So, what did you come out into these dusty ruins to see me about?"

"We got a call, a job." She said "Thought you might be interested."

"If it's opening up another alien fuck den than no." I told her "But since I know you would say the same, I'm guessing this is something actually interesting."

"Some Crimson Lance Assassin called about a weapons stockpile." She said "all she needs us to do is deal with some General sent here to take us out, did you see your wanted poster."

"Yeah Marcus mentioned it last time I was in town." I said "Well…where are we going?"

"T-Bone Junction." She said.

"Alright, let's do it." I said "I'll meet you guys when it's time."

"I'll let you know when we're ready to go." She said.

Lilith left and I got up and went over to the office where Tannis was.

"I take it you found something useful, or are you just here to spout useless drivel about dirt piles?" she asked.

"I'm gonna be going off for a few days to help the others with something." I said.

"Ah good peace and quiet." She smiled.

"I think you should go to New Haven while I'm gone." I told her.

"Preposterous all my research and samples are here, plus that place smells like rust and old dirt and not the good old dirt but like the gross wet kind." She said.

"I'm serious." I told her "There's been too much stuff going on, too many people looking around here I don't think it's safe for you to stay here by yourself."

"Utter nonsense, I require no protection, there is no threat." She said.

"What do you call those two guys I had to take out for trying to get through the barricade?" I asked.

"Nothing but a minor inconvenience." She said.

"You really get on my nerves sometimes you know that." I growled a bit "Fine stay here all by yourself what do I care if you get kidnapped by some lunatics who wanna eat your eyeballs or some corporate lacky who wants your research. I know you're off your rocker but some people actually try and fricken help you because they'll feel bad if your gone and the least you can do is give them something to calm their nerves."

"I assumed that was why you were a disgusting chain smoker." She said.

"You're fricken insufferable." I laughed a bit.

"I will be fine by myself; I can assure you of that." She looked at me "I would sooner die than give up my research to brainless idiots or masturbating corporate buffoons."

"Well I wouldn't have put it that way but I get the idea." I laughed "So want something for dinner?"

"Oh pizza." She nodded "With pineapple."

"Man, you are crazy."

"Well since you're still here logic would say you must be able to tolerate crazy, or enjoy it." She said.

"Ehh, I think everyone enjoys a little crazy." I smirked "You're just the right amount for me to handle."

* * *

**AN**

**Thank you for reading. Feedback is appreciated. Feel free to message me any questions or concerns.**

**Till Next Time!**

 


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